Speaking at GW on the Erev-Yartziet of his arch-nemesis the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Carter blamed the bad reviews of his book on the Jewish controlled media and went on to vent his hatred of Begin by blasting the country he led. (For more Carter's hatred of Begin see Jimmy Carter's Obessive Hatred of Menachem Begin: Why He Hates Israel.)Philip Klein of the American Spectator was at the GW event:
The Protocols of the Elder Carter
By Philip Klein American Spectator
Published
Jimmy Carter likes Jews. Or at least that's what he wants you to believe.
Speaking to a packed auditorium of over a thousand at The George Washington University on Thursday, the poet, peanut farmer, and former president was hell bent on convincing the audience that he's pro-Semitic.
Carter opened his speech by discussing the efforts during his presidency to help Soviet Jewish dissidents, to set up a commission to create a Holocaust museum ("Elie Wiesel served as chairman"), and to broker the
Of course, more recently, he has been in the news for writing a book describing Israeli policy toward Palestinians as "apartheid."
"I realize that this has caused some concern in the Jewish community," Carter said. But there's no need to overreact, because he wasn't referring to policies within
Apartheid, of course, has a very specific connotation, and refers to a policy in
"The driving force for the terrible oppression and persecution in
Following the publication of his book, Carter has received a lot of criticism, both for his inflammatory title, numerous errors, and failure to include footnotes or citations. Outside GWU's Lisner auditorium, about a dozen protesters held signs, passed out flyers, and chanted: "Carter Is A Liar."
In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Carter elaborated on why he's been criticized: "Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organizations who would be unlikely to visit the occupied territories..."
Lest anybody get the wrong idea from such comments, in his speech to GWU students, Carter was sure to explain that he doesn't buy into old stereotypes.
"I am personally familiar with the management of major news organizations," he said, naming Cox Enterprises, Knight-Ridder, and Gannett. "I have never claimed, nor believed, that American Jews controlled the news media."
In the question and answer period, one student asked Jimmy how he felt about the 14 members of the
One questioner asked Carter how he thinks the
"After the Shah fell, I was still president, and we established very quickly diplomatic relations with
Carter said his policy during this period "was that we should have diplomatic relations and discussions with Iran, if not with a full ambassador there, at least with a large staff so we could communicate with each other, and I think that would still be the preferable approach to Iran, and also, by the way, to Syria."
Who can argue with success?
Another questioner asked Carter why he refused to debate the content of his book with figures such as Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz and former Ambassador Dennis Ross, especially given that one of the supposed aims of his book was to provoke debate.
"I don't see any reason for me to debate a man from Harvard who knows very little of anything about present circumstances in the
"I've never been afraid of debates," Carter said. "As a matter of fact, when I was a peanut farmer I debated the President of the
God Bless the Gipper.
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